


trick or treat (me with love)

by maraudersourwolf



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Attempt at Humor, Crush at First Sight, Dogsitting, Drunken Shenanigans, Fluff and Humor, Getting to Know Each Other, Halloween, Halloween Costumes, Love at First Sight, M/M, Strangers to Lovers, The Author Regrets Everything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2019-11-07
Packaged: 2021-01-24 17:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21341713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maraudersourwolf/pseuds/maraudersourwolf
Summary: A pocket sized dog and a dunk guy dressed as a ghost.There's a reason why Theo isn't a fan of Halloween nights.
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 19
Kudos: 57





	trick or treat (me with love)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LI0NH34RT](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LI0NH34RT/gifts).

> So this was supposed to be my halloween fic.  
Clearly, that didn't work as planned.  
It was also supposed to be a short one.  
That didn't work either.
> 
> When will I learn, right?
> 
> If you ask me why I decided on a ghost costume, well.  
I always wanted to cut one of my mom's bed sheets.  
Let me work my frustrated dreams, dammit.
> 
> Also, yes, I might have something for ghost stories.  
_Ba dum tss_
> 
> It's been a while since I haven't written anything.  
Don't get any ideas.  
It still doesn't make any sense.
> 
> Of course this isn't beta'd, who do you take me for.  
Might be messy.  
You clicked here and I appreciate you but still, I can't hold accountable for your decisions.
> 
> Enjoy!

If there’s one thing Theo hates more than Halloween, with all the kids demanding candy and all the adults getting drunk out of their minds, is having to dogsit the one dog that barks at its own shadow and has no regards for its own safety. And not only that, but having to walk him in the middle of a sea of ghosts, monsters and movie murderers all the while with the original soundtrack of Flufferto’s barking.

Things couldn’t be worse.

*

Then the guy dressed up as a ghost happens.

*

"I'm pretty sure a lot of people have told you this already but damn you're gorgeous"

Theo blushes lightly at how the boy's voice sounds so deep in awe, as if he had never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

"Mason-- my best friend? He's more like a brother, but mom said she couldn't adopt him because he had parents so-- my best friend almost brother Mason, he says I have this-- thing, y'know. Like I just-- too quick, too soon? Falling in love. That. Yeah. That I should be more careful but-- can I marry you? I kinda wanna marry you"

There's a weird sound blooming from the back of Theo’s throat that's terribly embarrassing, but what can he do? He's dying. He's being murdered. This is insane in so many levels. Insane and unfair. He wasn’t supposed to be attacked like this.

"God, you're so fucking gorgeous making that face"

Completely unfair.

Because not only did he have to settle to take care of Corey's stupid dog while he was out on a date, now this is happening. This-- a real thing that is occurring and that Theo is pretty sure means to be a punishment for something, but what can be so bad to make life be this cruel to him?

"Please? Please, marry me. I'll make you the happiest boy in the world"

Because in front of him, there's the most gorgeous guy with the most stupid ghost costume draped over that he's ever laid his eyes on, that seems to be drunk out of his mind. Talking all sultry and soft, making every nerve on Theo’s body tingle.

And he's asking to marry the stupid ball of fluff.

*

It's been several blokes and the cute guy is still following them. Theo is grateful that at least he's not screaming his undying love for Flufferto anymore. The first three blokes were kind of enough.

"Can you stop?," Theo huffs, turning to shot a glare at the cute guy, who tries to stop and instead stumbles in place. "Just go fucking home"

"I can't"

"You can't," Theo shots back, raising a brow. The cute guy squirms in place and really, it should be illegal how endearing that is. 

"I'm lost"

"You're-- are you kidding me?"

By the look on the guy's face, no. He's not kidding. Of course someone this pretty would be a kind of dumbass, there had to be a flaw somewhere. The universe works in mysterious ways but it’s always fair on its decisions.

"Yeah, I-- uh, am I drunk?"

Scratch that, this guy is way beyond Theo’s and even life itself line of comprehension right now.

Just his luck to have to deal with something like this right now.

*

Theo wonders, a couple of times, if this guy isn’t a serial killer just playing a role to kill him when he least expect him.

Then he sees the way Flufferto is getting carried in the arms of the stranger while having an improvised song and Theo decides that no. No person ever would throw their dignity away like that just for a single murder.

  
*

“Can’t someone, I don’t know, come pick you up?”

Theo isn’t exactly sure why he brought the guy home. If he’s honest, it wasn’t one of his brightest moments - bringing a complete stranger to the one place where he’s supposed to be safe. But Flufferto hasn’t barked at all since the guy crossed paths with them and having in mind that the damn ball of hair stops yalping only when it starting to run out of air, that means something, right?

The guy is now laying on the floor, face up, with the pocket sized dog over his chest and Theo isn’t at all feeling jealous of the little monster. 

Not at all.

“Yeah, Mason,” the guy mutters then frowns, tilts his head and promptly forgets all together whatever that was about because the dog is licking his chin and giggling like a kid is way more important than giving Theo a contact information so he stops feeling like an unwilling kidnapper.

“Mason--?,” Theo prompts, but there isn’t much reply except a very energetic nodding over the floor. He sighs, resigned. “Can you tell me Mason’s number so we tell him to come pick you up?”

“Can’t”

And really, the one-two word answers followed by the way too long silence are starting to overpower the pretty face and giving Theo the murder itch.

“Are you going to tell me why at some point or--?”

“My phone,” the guy mutters, a new frown in place and something that sounds like heartbreak in his voice. “Mason told me I should stop calling. That I would get blocked. So he took my phone--”

You know who has a heartbreak now? Theo. Of course this guy has someone he’s hanging up on. And not only that, but he sounds so despaired because he can’t do something as stupid as drunk calling without getting blocked. Theo wishes he got drunk called by this guy. 

“Are they--,” Theo clears his voice and tries not to sound as affected as he suddenly feels, “Are they that special?”

“Yeah,” Liam replies wistfully, “The best pizza in town”

Theo takes all of that back. 

How can he block this guy in real life?

*

At some point Theo got tired of calling the cute guy The Guy, so he asked for his name in the best of ways to not feel like a desperate damsel seeking for their prince name. 

But after getting a wide smile back and Liam’s name, Theo fails into not feeling like one.

*

“So this is not your dog,” Liam asks, now face down on the floor while Flufferto lays belly up and enjoys the belly rubs like the little slut for attention that it is.

“No, it’s not”

“And you didn’t steal it?”

“I’m babysitting it,” Theo replies, frowning slightly. The silent question of  _ why would I even want to steal that bag of fleas and bad temper? _ goes unnoticed.

“You never stole a dog?”

Theo doesn’t exactly know what is more concerning about that one: if the way Liam genuinely asks him, either signaling that a) he looks like someone who would steal a dog, or b) he is out of the loop since everyone seems to have stolen a dog at some point, or c) the fact that Theo has to take a moment too long to go through the list of mayhem he has caused until finally deciding that no, he never in fact stole a dog.

Probably the fact that Liam is face down on the floor where Flufferto’s been scratching his fleas all around.

*

Maybe he just needs to do it, to see what he is missing.

* 

Flufferto’s new incessant barking session helps him decide that no, he does not, in fact, need to steal a dog. 

Ever.

*

“What are the odds of Mason searching for you?”

“He’s on a date,” Liam replies with a frown, finally looking away from Flufferto and gazing back at Theo. He had seen the baby blue eyes but had never imagined he could feel as cheesy as to drown in them. “You want me to leave?”

The intelligent answer would be yes. 

Liam is still an unknown weird drunk guy that he picked out from the streets after he serenaded the dog he was babysitting for so long that he actually got lost. But Corey isn’t there for Theo to pretend that he’s not actually acting like the dumbest man on earth and telling Liam he can stay.

*

Actually, for it being the stupidest thing he’s ever done, Theo feels quite blessed.

*

“Now we are spooky ghosts together”

Theo doesn’t have the guts to tell Liam that he isn’t exactly a fan of halloween. Or that there’s nothing spooky about a white sheet that’s kinda tattered and have a couple of holes cut in for the eyes. Or, y’know, the fact that Liam put his costume over him so now the boy isn’t, in fact, dressed up so the only non-spooky halloween ghost around is just Theo.

“Thanks,” he grumbles, knowing from somewhere deep in his soul that arguing with Liam is just pointless.

Liam smiles wide and too childish like and Theo finds himself filled with the will to kick him in the face just because. 

Or, y’know, to kiss him. 

That might work too.

*

“Your eyes--,” Liam gasps sometime later.

It’s been twenty minutes since Theo has had the awful sheet over himself and he hated every single moment: from it snagging on every corner to Liam giggle screaming  _ ‘a ghost!’ _ each time he looked at him. But the worst part was not being able to take it off because of the fucking puppy eyes Liam would send his way.

“What with them?,” Theo asks, frowning slightly and looking back at the other boy knowing full well that the see through holes are not making any justice to his facial expression.

“Their color”

Suddenly Theo finds himself too close to Liam’s face. Or maybe it’s the other way around, he’s not sure. All he knows is that there’s baby blue eyes drilling into his very soul and the overwhelming smell of pumpkin and something he can just describe as forest, which should be very concerning but seems just right over Liam’s skin.

“Green,” Theo croaks out, “They are green”

Liam hums, still too close but now there’s a smile starting to bloom over his lips and before Theo can move away or say something, there are lips over his. A thin layer of sheet in between them, but that is still a kiss. A shy, too harsh, almost childlike kiss but a kiss nonetheless. When Liam pulls away, Theo is still unable to breathe.

“Mason isn’t going to believe me I kissed a ghost,” Liam giggles

And Theo is just thoroughly done. With the way Liam is slowly killing him, the ghost costume makes so much sense now.

*

How weird is it that he wants to be kissed again?

*

It doesn’t take long before Liam promptly falls asleep. Thankfully he moved from the floor to the couch seconds before exhaustion took over his oddly tiny yet built body. Or maybe it was the alcohol, who knows.

Theo stares like the fucking creep he is for far too long before Flufferto, from all beings, barks him out of it and he moves to cover Liam’s frame with the sheet that has been his punishment for the last half an hour not so long ago and then leaves him to rest.

He really tries not to think how head over the hills he got from a guy he just met.

*

He just fails.

*

There’s a few things Theo doesn’t expect to wake up to the next day.

One is Flufferto not barking.

The other one, the smell of pizza.

*

“You know it’s-- god, it’s 8 am, how are you even awake at 8 am? And where did you get pizza?,” Theo groans, watching with disgust how Liam just swallows a whole slice without even chewing.

“I got hungry”

“Yeah, I can see that-- wait, is that the pizza that was in the fridge?,” Liam nods, taking another slice, while Theo grimace gets even more prominent, “That’s been sitting there for weeks, Liam”

The guy shrugs as if Theo didn’t just tell him that there’s the threat of getting really sick over passed food in the distance and keeps fucking eating. Theo’s never seen more raw energy of  _ I’m ready to fight god if I need to but nothing not no one will take the pizza out of my hands and mouth  _ than in this moment.

Theo sits down in front of him, now starting to notice the slight blush on the boy’s cheeks. So maybe eating passed food with the desperation of a starving man has more to do with not feeling so awkward. Not like it’s working but hey, Theo appreciates the sentiment.

“I guess you’re not drunk anymore”

Liam nods, but he doesn’t advert his gaze. It’s intense, pinning him in place and really, Theo could do without the whole butterflies causing a riot on his stomach so early in the morning. Or at least a warning beforehand.  _ Caution, this guy is too hot, may cause your body and brain to malfunction _ .

“So--,” Liam starts, mouth full of food, “you brought me to your house”

“How much of it you remember?,” Liam’s wince is enough of a reply. “You serenaded the dog I’m babysitting for blocks until you got lost”

“That could be anyone--”

“-- and when I asked you for someone to call, you told me that Mason took your phone away because you called this pizza place too many times and you would get blocked”

“That’s actually too specific for my liking,” Liam grumbles, blush coming back with a thirst for revenge.

“And kicking you out didn’t seem like the right thing to do”

So, here’s the thing: Theo couldn’t care less about what the right thing to do was. It’s a thing they always argue about with Corey. He has and always will do whatever is best to his interests. And having Liam over was not so far from that. It’s not like he can just say  _ that _ anyways.

But it’s not like anyone needs to know.

*

By Liam’s amused smile, he’s not so good at hiding the truth.

*

“Mason will pick me up soon”

“Okay, you--,” Theo mutters off handedly, just to frown a couple of seconds later at the other boy, “Wait. Mason. So you did remember his number. And you know where we are.”

Liam’s blush comes back with a vengeance at the tone of demand from the other boy.

“I might have hold back some of the truth”

Maybe Theo doesn’t have to worry about how much of a bad liar he was before since the only witness of that moment will end up dead soon.

*

“So--”

Liam shifts his weight from one foot to the other, face completely red under the awful frown that he’s throwing at his shoulder. Theo wonders how does Liam dare to pretend something offended him when the he himself is at fault, but in the wild experience of getting to know him in less than 10hs ago, he can say that whatever Liam does has no logical explanation behind. For the short time he’s come to know the guy, Theo managed to gather that Liam is like a force of nature: unpredictable, weird and a nuisance most of the time.

There’s a honk behind them that makes Liam jump a little and curse under is breath, before throwing the same frown over his shoulder at the guy on the car. Mason is looking at them oddly, way too amused for Theo’s liking. Way too annoyed too, which also bothers him somehow.

“You need to go,” Theo mutters, a too saccharine smile aimed at Mason’s wide one before looking back at Liam. “He seems in a hurry”

He doesn't say they have been standing at the front door for 10 minutes straight and that, if it was him behind the wheel, he would have left without even bothering to honk.

“Yeah, well, I-- your number? Can I have it. I mean, can you give it to me? So I call you or something?,” Liam stammers too quickly and Theo can surprisingly say that there’s almost no difference compared to the drunk mumbling from last night.

“Sure but I don’t--”

Before he can say he doesn’t have any paper or a pen close, Liam is taking his phone out and handing it over. Theo stays frozen in place because that is Liam’s phone. On Liam’s hand. That Liam himself took out of his pants’ pocket. The same pants he was using last night with the same pockets that were hiding that same phone that  _ Liam said wasn’t there _ .

Liam seems to notice Theo’s inner spiral and he scratches the back of his neck in what seems a mix of embarrassment and  _ please don't murder me _ . Which would be understandable since Theo isn’t that far from actually killing Liam, if he’s quite honest.

“You said you didn’t have your phone”

“I said Mason took it, I never said he took it away” 

It sounds like an awful excuse and Theo is in that middle ground where Liam is still amusing but not enough to not push him closer into turning to homicide.

“So it’s been in your pocket all the time”

“You never checked!,” Liam whines, as if that’s exactly the answer to their problems.

Theo doesn’t have it in him to explain that pickpocketing someone, asleep or not, isn’t, in fact, something people should envision. Not that he hasn't pickpocketed Corey when he’s short of money for a coffee or just for gigs, but that’s not the point here. The point is that there’s 100% chance of him using Liam’s phone as a weapon to murder him and then having to murder Mason because there should not be witnesses.

Or maybe because the giggles from the car turn into full blown laughs and Theo isn’t going to get disrespected like that on his own house.

“You are too pretty, okay? And you had a cute dog too. I was drunk and just wanted to spend more time with you--”

The explanation takes Theo by surprise and maybe it’s the spirit of late halloween or the holidays coming sooner than expected, but there’s a warmth spreading inside his chest that bubbles up to his face and god forbid if he’s blushing right now because someone will pay for it. 

Obviously Liam.

If either with a kiss or his death is still under debate.

*

The car honking is the only thing that breaks the bubble they are in .

*

It takes Theo a couple of moments to figure out that Liam fleed and he didn’t, in fact, give the boy his number.

Of course he meet a cute guy who stayed over, was dumb enough to be amusing and made breakfast in the morning, yet somehow he forgot to give him any way to get in contact.

Leave it to him to make such an awful mistake.

*

It's a bit underwhelming, but after some duelling moments on his own and Corey laughing at him on the phone guesses that's life's way of saying  _ “fuck you, you don't get to keep things like that” _

*

In retrospective, that was his bad.

*

Someone is ringing at his door. 

Theo doesn’t even have the time to yell that he's coming over when the knocking starts. And then the ringing again. A mixture of both, so quick and annoying that Theo envisions his future as a murderer.

He opens the door, trying to make that simple logical act as much of a threat as possible.

And then he sees the ghost.

The sheet is cleaner this time. Seems a bit newer too. The flower pattern just takes whatever spooky quality it had, leaving behind the ridiculousness of it all and the fact that that isn't even a sheet. It's a tablecloth.

“Trick or treat,” Liam says from under his costume.

Theo is not proud to say he's just in shock.

“Halloween was yesterday,” he replies as a matter of factly, his body trying to look impassible as a natural reaction but the truth is that his mind has travelled somewhere far where Liam antics can’t harm it.

“Trick or treat,” Liam replies again, like some scratched record.

Well, when in Rome.

Theo huffs, crosses his arms and just stares the awful custom up and down again as he pretends he thinks. Liam shifts a bit, clearly nervous, looking just completely adorable.

“I don't have any candy left,” Theo replies after clicking his tongue, “You ate it all”

“That was fucking pizza, you can't give trick or treaters pizza,” Liam retorts, seemingly frustrated. Theo smiles at that tone of voice, feeling like he just won a prize.

“I still have no treat for you,” Theo replies and shrugs, finding really amusing to rile the other boy up. But the reply he gets is Liam's eyes twinkling with something he can't put words into but that seem promising. It’s hard for Theo to not smile at it.

“Then you get tricked,” Liam mutters as only warning.

Theo finds himself with a sudden hand grabbing his shirt and pulling him forward, the table cloth flying away in a frenzy of a single free hand slapping it out of the way and lips, the ones he remembers faintly from the night before, pressed against his.

It's weird, awkward and the best fucking thing Theo ever experienced with someone he meet in the last 24hs. Not that he’s ever expected to a whole  _ I still know nothing about you except for your best friend’s name, your debatable taste in halloween costumes and the taste of your lips  _ thing they have going on, but sometimes Life can give you nice surprises.

Still, there are some pressing matters to take care off.

“Did you really just get back to your house and then drove back with that on?,” Theo asks, pulling away just slightly and enjoying the little groan of disagreement coming from Liam.

“Maybe,” Liam mumbles, blush starting to spread all over his face again. “You can prove nothing”

This time is Theo who pulls him in a new kiss that’s welcomed with a smile pressed over his lips, a questionable ghost costume thrown haphazardly over his head, two arms and a chorus of barks coming from inside the house like the most romantic melody ever existing.

Theo is going to kill that dog.

But that aside, maybe there's a single good thing about Halloween after all (although he's resolute to not keep him single anymore).

**Author's Note:**

> I have no one to blame for the cheesy title.  
That's my own fault.
> 
> You can and I definitelly allow you to comment in whichever language you want.  
I swear I know how to use a translator.  
Keysmashing into the comment section is valid too.


End file.
